Film Processing: Does anyone know how I can transfer shots taken with 35mm film into their digital equivilents

Question

Okay, I have taken and still plan to take photos with my 35mm SLR and I want to be able to keep high quality digital copies of them on my PC like I do with those taken from my digital camera. Anyone know how I can achieve this? Because so far, I am just disgusted with what I get off of the picture CD's created when my film is processed. Is it the film, or the processing of the film, or both? If so, what kind of film should I be buying for my SLR, a 35mm Canon Rebel Ti, and how should I get the film processed because Target sucks. I like Wolf Camera, are they any better? Or should I go with a more professional film processor?

Answer 1

The only way to do this properly is to either pay to have the negatives scanned , or to buy a scanner capable of scanning transparencies, and scanning them yourself.
I suggest buying a scanner, and doing it yourself, as this gives you the most control, and if you plan on scanning a lot of images, will be much more cost effective. I don't know what your budget will allow, but right now the best balance of price to results is the Nikon Coolscan 9000, or whatever they are calling the latest version of that model. It is the closest thing to buying a commercial drum scanner, which costs in the 10s of thousands. The Nikon is about 2,000 and worth every penny.

If your budget is tight then get Nikon's lower end film scanner, over any flatbed, because a flatbed is not designed for scanning negs.

The cd's you get when having film processed are a waste of time, as the images are low resolution, and in the wrong format as well. They usually at best no larger than 4x6 inches at 300ppi or less, which is ok for small prints but useless for enlargements. They are also in jpg format, which is compressed, and not ideal for what you want to do.

I have an older scanner, a HP s20xi, which is not nearly as good as the Nikon's but still better than most others. It allows me to scan slides, and negs at 2400ppi, and outputs in tiff format giving files large enough to work from, though not nearly as good as the 4000ppi the Nikon produces. A typical color neg/slide will produce a file about 25MB in size, as opposed to the 2MB files you get on a cd.

Wolf does somewhat better work in processing than Target, but not that much better in general. I use my local CVS, but only because I know the people in the photo dept well, and trust them to take care when processing film. Most non-professional processing places use the same, or very similar equipment to process film, and give similar results. Wolf tends to be a little better, because they train their employees a bit better, because they are training them to do that one thing, and not as part of overall training like Target.

Answer 2

I am sure you heard the saying,"if you want something done right it is best that you do it yourself." Any of these high volume photomats don't have the time or the ability to pay special attention to each photo to ensure that the image prints properly. Furthermore, the scans that you get from most of these photomats are low quality scans.
The solution is get yourself an Epson flatbed scanner with 35mm film scanning capabilities, and a copy of Photoshop. You don't have to learn every single aspect of photoshop, just the basics in terms of color and tonal correction. Actually some Epson scanners do come bundled with Photoshop elements, so you can kill two birds with one stone if you go this route. Really it is not that big of an investment, and in the end you will be a lot happier.

Answer 3

The problem is in the scanning - not the film. - Commercial processors that return a CD with your prints do not do a very good job. - The resolution of files is likely to be low and you will probably get JPG files which result in further loss of data.

- Some options for you include:

- Go to a large camera store and have a high resolution tiff file made from negatives or slides that you particularly like.
Plan on paying about $1.50 per scan.

-Buy a film scanner - The good ones have software called "Digital Ice" witch helps remove dust and scratches on the scans of your negatives or slides. - A good film scanner is likely to cost you $400.00 or more.

-Scan your negatives or slides with a flat bed scanner, that has a built in light source for film scanning. Some of the newer flat bed scanners actually do a pretty good job - although the results are not likely to be as good as scans made with a good film scanner.

Answer 4

You'd probably have to use a commercial scanning service, and frankly there aren't as many as there used to be. To my knowledge, none of the consumer grade negative/slide scanners ever went above 5 megapixels, and the really good, Nikon, Minolta, and Olympus consumer grade scanners just aren't made any more. And to tell the truth, quality scans were an art in and of themselves. It was hard to get a good scan. Yes, when done properly, they were fantastic, but many, MANY were not done properly. Frankly, I think you'd be better off with a modern digital camera. For about the same amount of money, you can get a very good camera that produces high quality images in the formats you want.

Answer 5

it all depends on how much you can afford to spend. Sometimes it pays to go with a pro film processor, although you may be happy with another department store chain's service, ask where they send it to and see if its the same place which Target uses. If its the same lab, then look elsewhere. Ask yourself the following questions : What kind of film are you using ? How old is the film ? Are there any other photographers who can steer you towards a decent lab ? What catagory are you in; ametuer semi-professional professional ? I like 800 iso speed film, it has the widest light range, for color film and 400 iso for black and white. I buy the B&W which can be processed with color film. Both for price and quality. I know other will disagree with me, but I go with what I know.

Answer 6

I agree, get a dedicated film scanner and do it yourself.

At my lab, we make house brand and Kodak CDs. They are suitable for sending snapshots via email, and that's about it. Pro labs can do a much better scan, for a price.

If you have a lab that provides good prints and clean negatives, I would continue to use them for prints, and buy a film scanner and scan my own for digital files.

Answer 7

Costco or many other places do this